


When You Were Here

by PeachSSodaPop



Series: Peach's Loz Fics [10]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Angst, Animal Death, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I don't know what else to tag this as, and it's not Link either, it's just angst the whole way through, one day I'll learn to tag and how to write a summary today is not that day though, the animal is not the major character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:06:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25721041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeachSSodaPop/pseuds/PeachSSodaPop
Summary: Link happily ignored his own bloody knees, watching as his mother tended to the small bird.
Relationships: Link & Link's Mother
Series: Peach's Loz Fics [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1404235
Comments: 1
Kudos: 19





	When You Were Here

He was five years old when he watched his neighbor‘s cat tear across the town, the sound of chirping following. He had gone racing after it, following it to every nook and cranny of the village, until eventually, he managed to free a tiny baby bird from it‘s maw. The cat had been less than please leaving him with several scratches.

On that spring morning, he came home to his mother with his blood on his knees and a baby bird‘s on his hands as it continued to chirp.

"Mama, we gotta help it!“ He exclaimed, holding up the bloody little bird. 

She had frowned, seeing the sorry state of the little bird, "Honey, I don‘t think it‘ll make it,“

Link shook his head, his blonde locks flying around with the action, "Put bandages on it! Make it all better,“

She sighed, "Ok dear, we can try,“

Link happily ignored his own bloody knees, watching as his mother tended to the small bird. When she finished she turned to him and got a good look at his knees.

"My, my, looks like the little bird isn‘t the only one who needs patching,“ She said quickly getting to work on bandaging the young boy. Once the scratched were covered she kissed each of his knees causing him to giggle.

"Now, if you want to care for the bird you have to go and collect seeds for it to eat,“ She stated and watched as the boy shook his head eagerly.

"I‘ll get so many seeds!“ He said before sprinting out of the house.

True to his word he returned with many seeds he was holding with his tunic folded up. He dumped them all on the kitchen table where a small wooden box held the baby bird.

His mother smiled, "You did a very good job, now you need to feed the baby bird,“

Link did his best to try to feed the baby bird however, it refused, never opening it‘s mouth. He pouted and his mother placed her hand on his shoulder.

"You can try again later, maybe it isn’t hungry right now,“ She said and Link slowly nodded.

He attempted several more times throughout the day to no avail. By the time he went to bed the baby bird hadn‘t eaten a single thing.

The next morning he woke up determined, he sat by the bird for an hour attempting to feed the bird. Though just as the night before it didn‘t eat anything. He didn‘t go to play outside as he normally did, staying by the bird trying to get them to eat anything.

Eventually though the bird stilled and it‘s body went cold.

"Link, dear, the baby bird isn‘t with us anymore,“ His mother said, seeing her son continue to sit watching it.

"No, it‘s right here,“ He said pointing to the bird.

His mother paused for a second contemplating her words, "The bird is dead, it‘s gone to live with the goddesses now,“

Link seemed to understand that as his eyes filled with tears and his ears drooped, "No!“ He poked and prodded the bird, "It‘s napping!“ He said, though the bird didn‘t move.

It rained that afternoon, Link‘s tears mixing with the raindrops as his mother dug a tiny grave.

"It‘s ok Link, the bird will feed the grasses, and the grasses will feed other animals, and the animals will feed other animals, the bird will live on through the wilds around us,“ She explained as she covered the tiny corpse.

Link continued crying but mumbled out the words, "Ok mama,“

They went back into their home and he curled up by his mother‘s side and continued to sniffle for a long time.

Though the next day he went out to play again, his smile returned, he was happy again.

He was six years old when he watched his father tore across the house to the room he shared with his wife. The sound of mumbled curses following him. He had gone racing after him, and saw his mother where she had been for the past few weeks as a sickness ravaged her. In a tiny crib his baby sister was sleeping.

She mumbled something to his father, though whatever she had said he was unable to catch it. He watched though, his father kneeled by the bed and sat there for a while. The sun began to set and Link was determined to feed his parents. 

He made his way to the kitchen and with the window open letting in the spring evening air he began to cook as best as his six year old self could.

When he returned to the room a single plate in hand, his parents chuckled weakly.

"I made dinner!“ He announced and handed the plate to his mother, he then quickly left and returned a few moments later with another plate he handed his father. He then left one last time returning with his own plate. They ate in silence, just as they had been for weeks. He hated how much he was getting used to it.

Though the food on his own plate was quickly gone he watched as his father took a bite only every few minutes, and his mother struggled to even nibble the food. By the time he passed out on the floor of the room his father wasn‘t even halfway through and his mother had hardly taken a bite.

When breakfast was made the next morning, it was much the same. He didn‘t go outside to play that day, instead sat by his mother‘s side he tried to feed her, even just one bite. Though she didn‘t open her mouth, eventually she completely stilled, her eyes no longer blinking, and she began to go cold.

It was painfully familiar and no one needed to tell him this time what had happened, his eyes filled with tears and he sobbed into her still chest.

It rained that afternoon, Link‘s tears mixing with the raindrops as he held his sister and watched as his father dug a grave.

"It‘s ok Aryll, Mama will feed the grasses, and the grasses will feed animals, and the animals will feed other animals, mama will live on through the wilds around us,“ He whispered, and though the words didn‘t soothe his sister who was fast asleep in his arms, they soothed him ever so slightly, as his father covered up his mother‘s corpse.

They went back into their home and he curled up alone on his bed and sniffled for a long time.

The next day he didn‘t go outside, he didn‘t smile, he didn‘t know when he‘d be happy again. Deep inside, he assumed he never would be.


End file.
